Ford has restructured their organisation, creating two separate businesses under the ‘Ford’ moniker.
Ford Model e focuses solely on electric vehicles and connectivity (basically the same). Ford Blue stays in line with Ford’s legacy business model of developing internal combustion engines for cars and utes like the Mustang and Ranger.
The electric division is not a complete spinoff. It still has strong Ford ties and shares technology and capital with Ford Blue.
Ford Blue, meanwhile, can ‘steal’ some of the technological advances made at Ford Model e and use them accordingly.
However, both now depend on each other to be profitable.
“Model e will nurture the talent and the culture and the intensity of a high-tech start up,” Ford’s CEO Jim Farley said.
“Blue will be a profit and cash engine for the entire enterprise.”
It’s a move investors are hesitant to comment on simply because no one really knows what to expect. One analyst said it was a ‘radical’ decision by Ford. Another described it as “a creative move.”
In any case, it’s not an entirely new idea. In fact, Ford already has a separate business for its commercial customers called Ford Pro.
Ford is primarily committed to an all-electric future. Earlier this year, they singled out Tesla as their target for EV market share and vehicles sold.
Ford also announced a $50 billion EV push on Thursday to give themselves an early leg-up. It’s been labelled the ‘Destroy Tesla’ plan and is $20 billion more than Farley initially said would be invested.
“Is this about winning? 100 per cent,” Farley said. “We want to beat the old players. We want to beat the new players.”
